By Dana G SmithThe Federal Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack has completed its findings. The 200 page report brought bleak news to the nation worried about security already. This report put the damper on any good news for those watching the current trends in the country. With the border fence having been at the 'top of the must do for security list', many have been wondering where the next leak in the nations proverbial security wall will come from.

That leak is a big one. The news is not just bad, it is real bad. In case you may think I am over reacting a bit, the download of the report is available in this article. One major component of trouble, one which I have talked about in shows before is the Electrical grid. This grid powers and empowers everything America does. Not just do we have to think about hackers via the internet into the system, but the headache of an EMP as well. According to the Report:

"Should significant parts of the electrical power infrastructure be lost for any substantial period of time, the commission believes that the consequences are likely to be catastrophic, and many people may ultimately die for lack of the basic elements necessary to sustain life in dense urban and suburban communities," the report said.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Gul Hussein was standing under a pale street lamp in a poor section of east Kabul when the entire neighborhood suddenly went black.

"As you can see, it is dark everywhere," the 62-year-old man said, adding that his family would light a costly kerosene lamp for dinner that evening. "Some of our neighbors are using candles, but candles are expensive, too."

More than five years after the fall of the Taliban — and despite hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid — dinner by candlelight remains common in the Afghan capital of Kabul. Nationwide, only 6% of Afghans have electricity, the Asian Development Bank says.

The electricity shortage underscores the slow progress in rebuilding the war-torn country. It also feeds other problems. Old factories sit idle, and new ones are not built. Produce withers without refrigeration. Dark, cold homes foster resentment against the government.

In Kabul, power dwindles after the region's hydroelectric dams dry up by midsummer. This past fall, residents averaged only three hours of municipal electricity a day, typically from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., according to USAID, the American government aid agency. Some neighborhoods didn't get any.

"That's a scary sounding figure because it's pretty tiny," said Robin Phillips, the USAID director in Afghanistan. "So we're talking about the relatively poorer people in Kabul who have no access to electricity at this time of year."

Electricity was meager under the Taliban too, when Kabul residents had perhaps two hours of it a day in fall and winter. The supply has since increased, but not as fast as Kabul's population — from fewer than 1 million people in the late 1990s to more than 4 million today.

Meanwhile, souring U.S. relations with Uzbekistan have delayed plans to import electricity from that country. Power is not expected to arrive in a significant way until late 2008 or mid-2009.

"Life takes power," said Jan Agha, a 60-year-old handyman from west Kabul who recalled how the city had plentiful power during the 1980s Soviet occupation. "If you have electricity life is good, but if there's no electricity you go around like a blind man."

Some in Kabul do have electricity: the rich, powerful and well-connected.

Municipal workers — under direction from the Ministry of Water and Energy — funnel what power there is to politicians, warlords and foreign embassies. Special lines run from substations to their homes, circumventing the power grid. International businesses pay local switch operators bribes of $200 to $1,000 a month for near-constant power, an electrical worker said anonymously for fear of losing his job.

If high-ranking government officials visit the substations, workers race to cut off the illegal connections. Large diesel generators, which businesses and wealthy homeowners own as a backup, rumble to life.

Ismail Khan, the country's water and energy minister, dismisses allegations of corruption as a "small problem."

"The important thing to talk about is that in six months all of these power problems will be solved, and everyone will have electricity 24 hours a day," he said, an optimistic prediction that relies on heavy rains next spring and quick work on the Uzbekistan line.

Colorful maps on the walls of Khan's office show existing and future power lines. There's a wall-mounted air conditioner — a luxury in Afghanistan.

India, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new power lines — including transmission towers installed this summer at 15,000 feet over the Hindu Kush mountains — to import electricity from Uzbekistan.

Though the line from Kabul to the Uzbek border is in place, a 25-mile section in Uzbekistan has not yet been built. And the U.S. has little leverage to speed it up, said Rakesh Sood, the Indian ambassador here.

Initially, Uzbekistan supported the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, opening an air base to U.S. planes. But the Uzbek government no longer views America as a friend, ever since U.S. leaders loudly criticized the country's human rights record when government-backed forces massacred peaceful demonstrators in 2005.

Even when the Uzbek line is completed, Afghanistan can no longer expect the 300 megawatts originally envisioned, Sood said. That would have been more than the 190 megawatts Kabul has today and a significant boost to the 770 megawatts Afghanistan has nationwide.

"We know we'll get significantly less. I wouldn't hazard a guess as to what it will be," Sood said. "At that time the U.S.-Uzbek relationship was very high and it has deteriorated substantially."

President Hamid Karzai, during a radio address to the nation last fall, said he discussed with President Bush the country's need to produce its own electricity.

But some efforts have run afoul of the continuing Taliban insurgency. A new U.S.-financed turbine for a hydroelectric dam in Helmand province is a few months away from being installed because of the "lack of permissiveness in the environment," USAID's Phillips said, using a euphemism for the spiraling violence there.

Also, more than $100 million is needed to upgrade Kabul's antiquated distribution system, and it remains unclear who will pay.

"One doesn't like to see the kinds of numbers that we've been talking about, but I wouldn't call it a failure," Phillips said. "To put a little more positive spin on it we all wish things could happen more rapidly."

The lack of power has hamstrung U.S. efforts to boost agriculture production, too.

"The No. 1 challenge to agribusiness is electricity," said Loren Owen Stoddard, USAID director in Kabul for alternative development and agriculture. "You can't keep things cold and you can't bottle them without power."

The United States is purchasing fuel-powered generators that will provide 100 megawatts of power for Kabul by late next year. The power will not come cheap at 15 to 20 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with just 3.5 cents for electricity from Uzbekistan.

But until the Uzbek power comes in, Afghanistan has no choice.

"It's going to be more oil-fired power and praying for rain to get the hydropower going," said Sean O'Sullivan, regional director with the Asian Development Bank.

On a smaller scale, India has spent $2.2 million to outfit 100 villages with $450 solar cells. They dot the flat rooftops in Mullah Khatir Khel, a mud-brick village an hour's drive north of Kabul. Each cell can power a couple of light bulbs.

"I am very happy, why should I not be happy? I am using these bulbs and lanterns provided by India," said villager Abdul Gayoom. "Before we used to burn oil lamps, now it's a big saving."

By Felicity Barringer Published: January 11, 2008SAN FRANCISCO: The conceit in the 1960s show "The Outer Limits" was that outside forces had taken control of your television set.

Next year in California, state regulators are likely to have the emergency power to control individual thermostats, sending temperatures up or down through a radio-controlled device that will be required in new or substantially modified houses and buildings to manage electricity shortages.

The proposed rules are contained in a document circulated by the California Energy Commission, which for more than three decades has set state energy efficiency standards for home appliances, like water heaters, air conditioners and refrigerators.

The changes would allow utilities to adjust customers' preset temperatures when the price of electricity is soaring. Customers could override the utilities' suggested temperatures. But in emergencies, the utilities could override customers' wishes.

Final approval is expected next month.

"You realize there are times - very rarely, once every few years - when you would be subject to a rotating outage and everything would crash including your computer and traffic lights, and you don't want to do that," said Arthur Rosenfeld, a member of the energy commission.

Reducing individual customers' electrical use - if necessary, involuntarily - could avoid that, Rosenfeld said. "If you can control rotating outages by letting everyone in the state share the pain," he said, "there's a lot less pain to go around."

While the proposals have received little attention in California, the Internet and talk radio are abuzz with indignation at the idea.

The radio-controlled thermostat is not a new technology, though it is constantly being tweaked; the latest iterations were on display this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Pacific Gas and Electric, the major utility in Northern California, already has a pilot program in Stockton that allows customers to choose to have their air-conditioning systems attached to a radio-controlled device to reduce use during periods when electricity rates are at their peak. But the idea that a government would mandate use of these devices and reserve the power to override a building owner's wishes galls some people.

"This is an outrage," one Californian said in an e-mail message to Rosenfeld. "We need to build new facilities to handle the growth in this state, not become Big Brother to the citizens of California."

The broader stir on the Internet began when Joseph Somsel, a San Jose-based contributor to the publication American Thinker, wrote an article a week ago on the programmable communicating thermostat, or PCT. Somsel went after the proposal with arguments that were by turns populist ("Come the next heat wave, the elites might be comfortably lolling in La Jolla's ocean breezes" while "the Central Valley's poor peons are baking in Bakersfield"), free-market ("PCTs will obscure the price signals to power plant developers") and civil libertarian ("the new PCT requirement certainly seems to violate the 'a man's home is his castle' common-law dictum"). Word of the California proposal hit the outrage button in corners of the Internet, was written about in The North County Times in Southern California, and got a derisive mention on Wednesday on Rush Limbaugh's radio program.

The fact that similar radio-controlled technologies have been used on a voluntary basis in irrigation systems on farm fields and golf courses and in limited programs for buildings on Long Island is seldom mentioned in Internet postings that make liberal use of references to George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984" and Big Brother, the omnipresent voice of Orwell's police state. Ralph Cavanagh, an energy expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in an interview that at a time of peak electricity use, "most people given a choice of 2 degrees of temperature setback and 14th-century living would happily embrace this capacity." Somsel, in an interview on Thursday, said he had done further research and was concerned that the radio signal - or the Internet instructions that would be sent, in an emergency, from utilities' central control stations to the broadcasters sending the FM signal - could be hacked into. That is not possible, said Nicole Tam, a spokeswoman for PG&E who works with the pilot program in Stockton. Radio pages "are encrypted and encoded," Tam said.

Electricity generation in the country has dropped to its lowest level ever due to shortage of gas supplies to the nation’s power plants and could drop even further due to impending service work on gas pipelines, the management of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria [PHCN] said in Abuja yesterday.

PHCN blamed the dire situation on the fall of gas supplies by the Nigeria Gas Company to the Egbin and Geregu power generating plants. "For some months now, gas supply by Nigeria Gas Company [NGC] to Egbin and Geregu power stations has steadily declined due to the build up of condensate in the Escravos gas pipeline", it said. It said as a combined result, power generation at Egbin has dropped from 800MW to a paltry 100MW, a loss of 700MW, while the Geregu plant has also suffered a daily shortfall of 150MW due to inadequate gas supplies.

According to PHCN, the loss of over 800MW of power generation a day is responsible for the current load-shedding taking place all over the country. PHCN also warned that since the Nigeria Gas Company is expected to commence "pigging" of the Escravos gas pipeline in order to evacuate accumulated condensate, gas supplies to both power stations is expected to reduce even further, which could result in a nationwide blackout.

PHCN’s gloomy statement, signed by its General Manager, Public Affairs Mrs E. Igbo, said the drastic drop in gas supplies came as it did in the middle of the dry season, when the dams that supply water to the hydroelectric power plants are at their lowest level, "thereby limiting their generating capacity and ability to augment the thermal units".

Saying the situation was totally beyond its control, PHCN appealed for understanding from its customers, saying "there will be an improvement in power supply nation wide with the recent repairs of the Escravos-Lagos pipeline, vandalised since February 18, 2006 as well as the completion of the pigging excise".

Egbin Thermal station, located in Lagos is the country’s major source of electricity at the moment with an average installed capacity of 1,320 mw of electricity but the plant may likely shut down due lack of gas supply, PHCN said.

Minister of State for Energy (Gas), Emmanuel Olatunde Odusina told newsmen in Abuja last week that Chevron Nigeria Limited was ready to supply almost 140 million standard cubic feet of gas to the Egbin power plant, but PHCN said yesterday they are yet to receive any such gas.

Meanwhile, the Director General of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), Dr. Erepamo Osaisai, said the total ongoing power projects in the country will not take the country to the Promised Land.

He said the 10,000MW generation estimated by the middle of 2008 is too low for the national development target, especially with the vision 2020 of the Yar’adua administration

Briefing the Minister of State for Science and Technology on the Deployment of Nuclear Energy for Electricity Generation in Nigeria yesterday, Dr. Osaisai estimated potential electricity generation from hydro power sources within the period at between 3,000MW and 5,000mw, while other conventional sources like gas and oil could contribute between 7,000MW and 9,000MW.

This development, according to him, would leave the country with a shortage in power generation of between 11,000MW and 17,000MW.

He, however, said that Nigeria could generate the difference between demand and supply by developing other sources of power generation such as nuclear power plants.

This year began with a European energy crisis caused by Russia's cutoff of gas supplies to Ukraine, where a democratic government not to the liking of Vladimir Putin had taken power. Because Russian gas passes through Ukraine on its way to Western Europe, the pressure also dropped in Paris and Vienna and Rome -- and Europeans suddenly realized they were dependent for electricity and warmth on an autocracy that was prepared to use energy as a tool of imperialism.

(CNN) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has declared a state of emergency for the South American nation's electricity supply and announced a series of billing sanctions and rewards based on a customer's energy use.

The late-night declaration Monday stipulates that consumers who increase usage by 10 percent will pay an additional 100 percent on their monthly bill and those whose use goes up by 20 percent will pay an additional 200 percent.

Similarly, he said, consumers who cut use between 10 percent and 20 percent will get a 25 percent discount on their bill. Those who cut consumption by more than 20 percent will get a 50 percent discount on their bill, Chavez said in a nationally broadcast message around midnight Monday.

The state of emergency will exist for 60 days, Chavez said.

Venezuela's critical electricity shortages have created rolling blackouts in some areas.

Chavez blames a long drought that has reduced energy production at the country's main hydroelectric dam, while others say the real problem is a lack of investment in energy infrastructure.

Regardless of the reason for the electricity shortages, experts warn that Venezuela faces a complete electric collapse if something isn't done soon.

In the article, it's said : "The solution, of course, is clear: -- world community pressure." The world community will not help Gaza or any other countries, it's a global agenda to cut electricity to the population everywhere. Here, they try to criminalize Israel on many points but all the problems including the cut of electricity are coming from this world community who promess us day after day a better world.

Under siege for over three years, Gaza's humanitarian crisis continues unabated, Israel's bogus easing doing little to relieve it, including a serious electricity shortage, what the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement addressed in a May report titled, "Electricity Shortage in Gaza: Who Turned Out the Lights?"

Besides earlier attacks, Cast Lead severely damaged Gaza's sole power plant, putting it on the verge of collapse, exacerbated by inadequate industrial diesel supplies and the destruction of power lines supplying electricity from Israel and Egypt.

As a result, Gaza experiences outages of up to 12 hours a day, severely disrupting "normal functioning of humanitarian infrastructure, including health and education institutions and water and sewage systems, as well as the agricultural sector." In addition, faulty generators at times kill or injure users, an untenable situation because of Israeli attacks and siege, in violation of international law.

Chronology of Gaza's Electricity Crisis

In 2002, Gaza's sole power producer (the private Gaza Power Plant - GPP) became operational. In 2004, its potential capacity was 140 megawatts (MW), its remaining needs bought from Israel. In June 2006, IDF aircraft destroyed GPP's six transformers. In September 2006, the company bought 17 MW of electricity from Egypt.

In November 2006, seven transformers became partially operational, a year later reaching its 80 MW capacity not used because of Israeli fuel restrictions, worsened after the June 2007 siege, preventing entry of equipment, spare parts, other essential items, and enough diesel. By January 2008, operations were at 30% of capacity, causing outages up to eight hours daily - now 12 since January 2010 for lack of fuel and funds.

Presently, about 2.2 million liters a week come in, only 63% of GPP's needs for full capacity - hence, outages.

In 2009, GPP produced about 65 MW, creating a 42 MW shortfall, exacerbated by the grid's poor condition, electricity thus lost after transmission through waste. Worse still is Israel's building materials ban, preventing proper maintenance and rehabilitation. As a result, the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company (GEDCo) has regular, rotating outages throughout the Strip, distributing the burden, not relieving what only a siege lift can accomplish, only possible if public outrage forces world leaders to demand it with harsh recriminations if ignored.

EU Involvement

From summer 2006 - November 2009, the EU and individual member states subsidized GPP's fuel purchases, bought from Dor Alon, Israel's public fuel company. Thereafter, direct financing ended, but some European companies maintained support, prevented by Israel from exceeding 2.2 million liters weekly, far short of what's needed.

Palestinian Authority (PA) Involvement

Since November 2009, the PA Fuel Authority assumed responsibility for funding Israeli and Egyptian supplied power. According to the PA/GPP agreement, it must purchase diesel and pay $2.5 million monthly for operating expenses, requiring a budget of 49 million Israeli shekels (NIS) per month, paid in diminishing sums of 41 - 30 NIS from January - April.

As a result, less fuel is bought, down to 5.6 liters in April compared to almost nine million in 2009 and 14 million monthly to operate at full capacity. According to PA officials, they couldn't meet all financial obligations, wanting Gazans to pay their share, not possible because of the Strip's dire economic condition exacerbated under siege and regular attacks.

Collection Problems

GEDCo needs NIS 50 - 60 per month, but only gets up to 18, most covering expenses, maintenance and salaries, leaving only a few million for fuel. From June 2007 - March 2010, the cumulative consumer power supply debt reached NIS 2.3 billion because of Israeli imposed post September 2000 hardships, the start of the second Intifada. Thereafter, free movement restrictions and economic deterioration followed, greatly exacerbated by three years of siege and Cast Lead.

From 1998 - 2000, monthly collections were 83% of electricity bills, but since 2000, they're 39%, mostly covered by NGOs and international organizations because Palestinian households are too impoverished to do it.

According to the PA, Gazan funds can be collected from 77,000 PA employees, 30,000 employed by the government, the others working in the private sector or tunnel economy.

To facilitate collection, 10,000 meters were installed to force consumers to pay in advance, a similar system in the West Bank, where collections rose in the past two years by getting them from those able to pay. However, PA officials say Gazan government institutions and municipalities don't do it for electricity, the siege a key reason why.

However, Hamas wants to improve collections and plans to institute measures to enforce them, working cooperatively with GEDCo, the company so far refraining from strict enforcement.

Implications of the Electricity Crisis

Because of insufficient fuel in Q 1 2010, GPP operated a single turbine most often, generating 30 MW of power, less than half of 2009 output, using two turbines. As a result, the electricity deficit rose 30%, followed by rising outages, mostly in Gaza city and surroundings where about half the population lives and most hospitals and other vital infrastructure facilities are located.

In April, a lack of fuel forced GPP to shut entirely for several days, raising the power deficit to 43%, increasing the length and frequency of outages. During summer, conditions always worsen with greater demand and less electricity generated because, at high temperatures, power is needed to run cooling systems, meaning less goes to consumers.

The entire Strip is impacted, including those able to pay regularly. As a result, throughout 2010, 30% of Gazans have no electricity during some part of every day.

"For lack of an alternative, GEDCo initiates power outages by disconnecting power lines that serve hospitals, water wells, wastewater treatment facilities, schools, pharmacies and clinics, as well as homes," severely impacting daily life for everyone.

The alternative is private generators, but they're dangerous, in Q 1 2010 causing dozens of injuries and 17 deaths, including six children because of unsafe use, carbon monoxide poisoning, and fires and explosions when users try to fuel them by candle-light during blackouts.

All Sectors of Gaza Affected

Power shortages force hospitals and clinics to rely heavily on generators, not able to operate for prolonged periods because overuse causes damage. As a result, elective surgeries are delayed or not done. Refrigeration outages risk deterioration of certain drugs, and the overall function of facilities is severely hampered, at times putting patients' lives in danger.

Gaza's sewage treatment plant requires 14 days of uninterrupted power to fully complete treatment cycles, impossible with daily outages, forcing release of 60 - 80 million liters of raw or partially treated waste into the Mediterranean to avoid flooding residential areas, at times flooded anyway.

Pumping water also needs power, but because continuous operation isn't possible, domestic use is especially impacted, causing hygiene and health concerns. At most, nearly all households get water for 5 - 7 hours a day, an immense hardship to endure.

Education is affected as well, causing darkened classrooms, inadequate heat in winter, water disruptions, damaged electronic equipment, and lack of proper refrigeration for school canteens to store food, creating an overall environment not conducive to teaching and learning.

Further, power cuts interrupt crop irrigation, decreasing yields, fodder production, as well as egg and dairy output. In addition, aquaculture farms are threatened because pumps needed to filter or oxygenate water are affected.

Conclusions

Gaza's municipalities and the Palestinian Energy Authority share joint ownership of GEDCo, a company with experienced, professional staff handling Gaza's power system, its managing board comprised of Gazan and PA officials who must work together cooperatively to operate well.

Yet, according to Gisha, it's incumbent on Israel as the occupying power to provide for the needs of the people, including adequate power, what it hasn't done in 43 years, mostly more recently by restricting fuel, equipment, and other supplies needed for optimum operations.

The solution, of course, is clear:

-- world community pressure forcing Israel to end the siege entirely and comply with its international law obligations to provide for the needs of all Gazans and Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem;

-- allow the free passage of fuel, equipment and other supplies to supply the entire Strip's needs;

-- let in experts and advisors for their expertise, and allow Gazan professionals to be trained abroad to improve theirs; and

-- return the Strip to normality, able to rebuild, grow its economy, and become self-sustaining with the West Bank and East Jerusalem cooperatively, free from an oppressive occupation, one day to be realized because growing numbers demand nothing less.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

Protecting the U.S. from a terror attackProtecting the U.S. from a terror attack

It might sound like something out of a movie, but an electromagnetic pulse could put millions in the dark and paralyze daily lives. And it's a very real threat.

That was the exact topic at a conference Tuesday in Cumberland County. Organizers of the conference at the Army War College said there's no better time to get prepared.

"Imagine going through a day without any automobiles or electricity or without computers or without phones. Think of living as perhaps you were in the 16th Century," said event organizer Bill Waddell.

For many people, that's a difficult scenario to think about, but a disaster just like it is what military, government and local community leaders are learning how to prepare for.

"You're looking at people living without electricity for a year. It's not hype, it's a strong possibility. It could occur and it takes a multifaceted approach to address the planning for these," said Carlisle Mayor Kirk Wilson.

The workshop is aimed at getting the conversation going on how communities can prepare for an electromagnetic pulse caused either naturally by sunspot activity, a high-altitude nuclear explosion or during a cyber-attack.

"Cyber-weapons, cyber-issues are growing in intensity and in sophistication, and we are concerned about the possibilities of adversarial countries or groups getting involved in trying to take down our infrastructure," said Waddell.

Organizers of the conference said conversation is an important step in becoming prepared. They added that everyone should think about getting ready.

"If you were to go without electricity for, say, a month, what kind of things would you do or what would you prepare? Would you have a stockpile of food sources? Would you have some kind of capability to just exist until things came back?" asked Waddell.

A little more than an hour ago -- new mexico gas company spoke for the first time about why tens of thousands of new mexicans have no natural gas service. the company is blaming supply and demand, and a lack of pressure to push the gas through the pipelines. jeremy jojola is back from a press conference about the issue. he's joins us now to explain what the two big problems are. jeremy. the oblems: supply and demand and a lack of pressure in gas pipes feeding the state from west texas. black outs in texas have cut off power to compressors in west texas that feed gas into the state. with the low pressure--and high demand for natural gas--it's impossible to supply everyone. so 24-thousand people across the state are doing without natrual gas at this hour. in cmunities like taos, bernalillo, alamagordo and silver city. we asked new mexico gas company why those compressors in texas don't have emergency generators ...here's what the vice president of technical services said "well when the compressor stations, lose power, which they are doing through the brown outs, they are unable to compress the gas...which means we can't get the gas up here. jojola: why don't these compressor stations have maybe emergency generators? some do and some don't i cant' really comment on all of our upstreams suppler situations those compressors do not belong to new mexico gas--they belong to other suppliers. when asked when this problem will be solved...new mexico gas couldn't give a specific answer, citing the continuing cold weather.

SEOUL (Reuters) - The bustling entertainment districts of one of the world's largest cities, Seoul, were pitched into darkness early Tuesday as the government clamped down on energy use to cope with rising oil prices.

Neon signs and outdoor lights were ordered switched off in the business and entertainment districts of the South Korean capital, in a tangible sign of how the oil price rise is hurting the resource-starved country.

President Lee Myung-bak has called for a tighter national energy policy to counter the impact of higher prices stemming from a wave of unrest across the Arab world and North Africa.

South Korea is the world's No.5 crude oil buyer and No.2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer after Japan, and has boosted spending to acquire assets and develop oil and gas reserves, with a heavy focus so far on the Middle East and the Arctic.

Brent crude hit a high of almost $120 per barrel on February 24, the highest since 2008.

South Koreans have also been hit hard at gas stations, with pump prices jumping around 6 percent along with crude price rallies since December, while the government has been criticizing the fat margins of local refiners.

About 92,000 establishments nationwide have been targeted by the government lighting restrictions, local media reports said. Those failing to adhere to the regulations could face up to 3 million won (US$2,700) in fines.

The government in Asia's fourth-largest economy wants to curb inflation as it battles rises in crude oil and producer prices and housing rents, and has put a freeze on utility rate increases.

Analysts estimate that every additional 10 percent rise in annual average prices on international oil markets would lift South Korea's annual average inflation by around a fifth of a percentage point.

That means if global oil prices rise 10 percent above initial expectations on average for the year, South Korea's annual average consumer price inflation will reach 3.7 percent in 2011, instead of the 3.5 percent expected by the central bank. Last year's actual inflation was 2.9 percent.

Lee's government has been working on policy measures to stem inflation as campaigning starts for by-elections in April that will be a crucial gauge of support for him and his Grand National Party before parliamentary and presidential votes next year.

Economic policy is likely to figure highly on the political agenda ahead of the elections.

Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun said Monday that the government may lower its 3 percent crude oil import tariff, while it was not considering lowering domestic taxes on oil.

There have been widespread blackouts in Lebanon over the past several days, due to the lack of natural gas in the country, reports in the Arab media said Tuesday. Egypt on Saturday had stopped supplying natural gas to Israel, Lebanon and Jordan when a pipeline in Sinai blew up, and so far Israel has managed to find alternative sources - but Lebanon has not. Blackouts were common throughout the country, except for in Beirut, the reports said.

Gas shipments were partially restored to Jordan and Lebanon this week, using another pipeline that does not run to Israel, but the amount of gas flowing through that pipe is much smaller. The pipeline flows through Jordan, and only then to Lebanon. According to reports on Lebanese websites, the Jordanians have taken all the gas, claiming that they are contractually allowed to do so – leaving none for Lebanon. Electrical output in Lebanon was drastically reduced. Lebanon's main electric company, Electricite du Liban, said that they could not say when full power would be restored.

Ampal, the Israeli partner of Egyptian natural gas provider EMG, said Tuesday that the gas will begin to flow from Egypt to Israel in about a week. The pipeline is being repaired, and if tests show that it is working properly, Israel should begin getting its regular deliveries of gas again beginning a week from Thursday, the company said. Infrastructure Ministry officials said Tuesday that Israel was spending an extra $1.5 million a day for alternative gas sources.

While Egypt officially attributed the blast to a gas leak, Arab media websites report that many in local government in Sinai believe that the blast was a targeted attack. Suspects range from Islamic radicals to involvement of “foreign elements” (meaning Israel). One theory states that the bombing may have been the work of disgruntled Sinai Bedouin; the company responsible for pipeline security recently began building a concrete wall on both sides of the pipeline to protect it, with parts of the wall encroaching on land several Bedouin tribes claim as their own.

But that theory was dismissed by Mohamed Mostafa, a government official. The company relies on Bedouin to protect the line, Mostafa was quoted by Arab media as saying, and he appealed to the tribes to ensure the safety of the pipeline which generates much-needed income for Egypt, adding that to his knowledge, the Bedouin were properly compensated for the loss of the land they claimed.

Meanwhile, a news scandal has broken out in the Arab world as a result of the explosion – over allegations that Qatar has promised to make up to Israel the gas that is no longer flowing from Sinai. Numerous Arabic websites, quoting what they called “informed sources” who said that Qatar made the commitment to increase gas shipments to Israel, based on a deal in which Qatar has sold gas for several years already. There was no comment from Qatari government officials on the reports.

SHARECritical infrastructure firms such as power grids and oil refineries are facing “staggering” level of cyberattacks, and are not adequately prepared to defend themselves, finds a new report published today (April 19) by the security firm McAfee and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

NERC CIP ComplianceFree Whitepaper - Ensure Compliance With NERC CIP. Get the Facts.www.LogRhythm.comAds by Google “The problem is that all the infrastructure companies are connecting their systems to the Internet, because it never goes down and it's free,” Steve Santorelli, a security expert with Team Cymru in Burr Ridge, Ill., told SecurityNewsDaily.

“They save billions of dollars by switching over from proprietary and older systems,” said Santorelli, who was not involved with the survey. “It's not until something goes wrong and kills 100 people that you see the other side of that.”

Problems outpace solutions

When it comes to meeting the security demands posed by the new threats, the targeted companies are slow to respond, the McAfee/CSIS report found.

“We found that the adoption of security measures in important civilian industries badly trailed the increase in threats over the last year,” wrote Stewart Baker of the CSIS, who co-authored the study.

“What we found is that they [critical infrastructure companies] are not ready,” the report read. “The professionals charged with protecting these systems report that the threat has accelerated — but the response has not.”

The report found that 40 percent of the IT executives at critical infrastructure firms believed their industry has become more vulnerable to cyberattack, and more than 40 percent expect a major cyberattack to occur within the next year.

Nearly 30 percent of respondents admitted that their company was not adequately prepared for such a catastrophic event.

Eighty percent of respondents said their company has faced a large-scale denial-of-service attack in 2010; 25 percent reported “daily or weekly denial-of-service attacks” and more than half said they’d suffered from cyberattacks led by foreign governments.

“Overall, we found little good news about cybersecurity in the electric grid and other crucial services that depend on information and industrial control systems … We can no longer pretend that is business as usual for cybersecurity,” the report concluded.

Stuxnet for everyone

In one stunning finding, the report said 46 percent of the respondents who worked for electrical-grid infrastructure firms reported that the Stuxnet worm had infiltrated their systems.

“It's not surprising that Stuxnet was found on that many systems,” Santorelli told SecurityNewsDaily. “Everyone's using Siemens nowadays.”

The Stuxnet worm, perhaps the work of the U.S. and Israeli governments, targeted and penetrated Siemens industrial controllers at the Natanz uranium-processing facility in Iran.

Methodology in the madness

The report drew criticism on Twitter from several security experts Monday evening after its contents were leaked online.

“So is the McAfee report first hand research, or second-hand rumors?” wondered Robert Graham, founder and CEO of Atlanta-based Errata Security.

Others questioned whether the study should have cited electrical blackouts in Brazil in 2005 and 2007 as the result of extortion attempts by infrastructure hackers, because the reports have never been verified.

But Santorelli told SecurityNewsDaily that it’s inherently difficult to quantify the number of attacks on and vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure systems.

“You can't just go into these SCADA [supervisory control and data acquisition] systems to examine them,” he said. “These are very crucial systems and no security company wants to be held responsible if something goes wrong while you're in there fiddling with them.”

The respondents were asked to fill out a questionnaire, consisting of about 40 questions (some multiple-choice, some fill-in-the-blank).

If that sounds an awful lot like an opinion poll, that’s because there’s no other way to get this information, explained Santorelli.

“It's best to just ask the opinions of the administrators, and you have to remember that these 200 people who were surveyed really know their stuff,” he said. “And if they're scared, then maybe we ought to be as well.”

!!!!! U.S And United Kingdom To Cut Power In Prep of Massive Solar Storm !!!!!

VIDEO : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvYPUeNa-rE

Exclusive: Britain could face widespread power blackouts and be left without critical communication signals for long periods of time, after the earth is hit by a once-in-a-generation “space storm”, Nasa has warned.

Nasa is currently studying the effects of the Sun's power in the earth.

By Andrew Hough1:00PM BST 14 Jun 2010

National power grids could overheat and air travel severely disrupted while electronic items, navigation devices and major satellites could stop working after the Sun reaches its maximum power in a few years.

Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun wakes “from a deep slumber” sometime around 2013, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

In a new warning, Nasa said the super storm would hit like “a bolt of lightning” and could cause catastrophic consequences for the world’s health, emergency services and national security unless precautions are taken.

Scientists believe it could damage everything from emergency services’ systems, hospital equipment, banking systems and air traffic control devices, through to “everyday” items such as home computers, iPods and Sat Navs.

Due to humans’ heavy reliance on electronic devices, which are sensitive to magnetic energy, the storm could leave a multi-billion pound damage bill and “potentially devastating” problems for governments.

“We know it is coming but we don’t know how bad it is going to be,” Dr Richard Fisher, the director of Nasa's Heliophysics division, said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.

“It will disrupt communication devices such as satellites and car navigations, air travel, the banking system, our computers, everything that is electronic. It will cause major problems for the world.

“Large areas will be without electricity power and to repair that damage will be hard as that takes time.”

Dr Fisher added: “Systems will just not work. The flares change the magnetic field on the earth that is rapid and like a lightning bolt. That is the solar affect.”

A “space weather” conference in Washington DC last week, attended by Nasa scientists, policy-makers, researchers and government officials, was told of similar warnings.

While scientists have previously told of the dangers of the storm, Dr Fisher’s comments are the most comprehensive warnings from Nasa to date.

Dr Fisher, 69, said the storm, which will cause the Sun to reach temperatures of more than 10,000 F (5500C), occurred only a few times over a person’s life.

Every 22 years the Sun’s magnetic energy cycle peaks while the number of sun spots – or flares – hits a maximum level every 11 years.

Dr Fisher, a Nasa scientist for 20 years, said these two events would combine in 2013 to produce huge levels of radiation.

He said large swathes of the world could face being without power for several months, although he admitted that was unlikely.

A more likely scenario was that large areas, including northern Europe and Britain which have “fragile” power grids, would be without power and access to electronic devices for hours, possibly even days.

He said preparations were similar to those in a hurricane season, where authorities knew a problem was imminent but did not know how serious it would be.

“I think the issue is now that modern society is so dependant on electronics, mobile phones and satellites, much more so than the last time this occurred,” he said.

“There is a severe economic impact from this. We take it very seriously. The economic impact could be like a large, major hurricane or storm.”

The National Academy of Sciences warned two years ago that power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications could “all be knocked out by intense solar activity”.

It warned a powerful solar storm could cause “twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina”. That storm devastated New Orleans in 2005 and left an estimated damage bill of more than $125bn (£85bn).

Dr Fisher said precautions could be taken including creating back up systems for hospitals and power grids and allow development on satellite “safe modes”.

“If you know that a hazard is coming … and you have time enough to prepare and take precautions, then you can avoid trouble,” he added.

His division, a department of the Science Mission Directorate at Nasa headquarters in Washington DC, which investigates the Sun’s influence on the earth, uses dozens of satellites to study the threat.

The government has said it was aware of the threat and “contingency plans were in place” to cope with the fall out from such a storm.

These included allowing for certain transformers at the edge of the National Grid to be temporarily switched off and to improve voltage levels throughout the network.

The National Risk Register, established in 2008 to identify different dangers to Britain, also has “comprehensive” plans on how to handle a complete outage of electricity supplies.

And other lie. To cut electricity, it's in their agenda for long time. Listen the "EXECUTIVE ORDERS FROM HELL! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXffOS8-X7c

Published June 10, 2010| FOXNews.com

NASA

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory snapped this X-ray photo of the Sun early in the morning of Sunday, August 1st. The dark arc near the top right edge of the image is a filament of plasma blasting off the surface -- part of the coronal mass ejection. The bright region is an unassociated solar flare.

High-energy electric pulses from the sun could surge to Earth and cripple our electrical grid for years, causing billions in damages, government officials and scientists worry.

The House is so concerned that the Energy and Commerce committee voted unanimously 47 to 0 to approve a bill allocating $100 million to protect the energy grid from this rare but potentially devastating occurrence.

The Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense Act, or H.R. 5026, aims "to amend the Federal Power Act to protect the bulk-power system and electric infrastructure critical to the defense of the United States against cybersecurity and other threats and vulnerabilities."

It cites electromagnetic pulses from geomagnetic or solar storms as the big threat to our energy distribution grid, and demands "an order directing the Electric Reliability Organization to submit … reliability standards adequate to protect the bulk-power system from any reasonably foreseeable geomagnetic storm event."

Solar storms occur when sunspots on our star erupt and spew out flumes of charged particles that can damage power systems. The sun's activity typically follows an 11-year cycle, and it looks to be coming out of a slump and gearing up for an active period.

"The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity," said Richard Fisher, head of NASA's Heliophysics Division. "At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms."

Fisher and other experts met Tuesday at the Space Weather Enterprise Forum to discuss the intersection of these two issues, and ways to protect society from nature's wrath.

A major solar storm could cause 20 times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina, the National Academy of Sciences warned in a 2008 report, "Severe Space Weather Events—Societal and Economic Impacts."

And the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, while pointing out that "these risks are rare, and in some cases have never occurred," is nonetheless very concerned about the reality of geomagnetic events.

It a recently released report, NERC cited recent analysis by Metatech and Storm Analysis Consultants that suggests "the potential extremes of the geomagnetic threat environment may be much greater than previously anticipated. Geomagnetically induced currents on system infrastructure have the potential to result in widespread tripping of key transmission lines and irreversible physical damage to large transformers."

It's the fear of an EMP, specifically a high-altitude pulse caused by a solar event, that has Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) worried.

“It would cost about $100 million to protect the grid from EMP," he said in a speech at the House. "The consequences of inaction are dire. If our grid is destroyed by EMP, the National Academies warn it would cost us between $1 trillion and $2 trillion in damages and take four to 10 years to recover.”

Next week National Geographic Explorer will air a special on the topic, which warns that the risk also comes from terrorists. In "Electronic Armageddon," Explorer asks the viewer to "picture an instantaneous deathblow to the vital engines that power our society -- delivered by a weapon specifically designed NOT to kill humans, but to kill electronics."

While predicting the odds of a nuclear HEMP attack from terrorist groups are less certain, most experts agree that another source of an EMP, the sun, is imminent,” the show warns.

NEW YORK (TheStreet ) -- Power cut to businesses and hospitals. The inability to heat homes in winter or cool them in summer. Debilitating blackouts. Signs of Armageddon? Maybe. But they're also the potential results of a incapacitating cyber-attack on the nation's power grids, an act that experts say could happen at any time.

"The U.S. government and the American people should be more concerned about this," Rep. Jim Langevin (D., R.I), co-chair of the congressional cyber-security caucus, told TheStreet. "I don't feel that the electric grid is nearly as secure as it needs to be."

Despite new attempts to deliver cyber-security standards for power plants, legislators and security experts are warning of gaping holes that exist for hackers to exploit, further fueling concerns that critical U.S. infrastructures are at risk.

Langevin explained that a successful assault on the electric grid would dwarf recent attacks on corporations like Sony(SNE _ ), Lockheed Martin(LM _ ) and Sega, which resulted in compromised customer data, among other things.

Langevin says the the nightmare scenario resulting from parts of the grid knocked out could be devastating and wide-reaching. "It would affect the economy, and potentially, even cause loss of life," he said. "Imagine, god forbid, that part of the country was without power in the middle of winter."

"There's absolutely nothing theoretical about the power grid being vulnerable," added Joe Weiss, managing director of consultancy Applied Control Solutions. "This is not hypothetical -- it's very real."

Rather than one single power system, a spiderweb of multiple networks comprises the U.S. electrical grid, which encompasses somewhere around 500 different companies. That's about 5,700 power plants generating at least 1 megawatt, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, with some plants using more than one generator.

Experts are concerned that the computer systems used to control plants across this sprawling network are prime targets for a sophisticated cyber-attack. A few years ago, the Department of Homeland Security replicated this type of attack, remotely accessing and destroying a generator. Specific details of the so-called Aurora test are hard to come by, but it allegedly involved a substation computer system, which was used to repeatedly connect and disconnect a generator to the grid. The test eventually wrecked the generator.

Another infecting type of attack to worry about is a worm, or self-replicating malware. Weiss points to Stuxnet, a Microsoft(MSFT _ ) Windows worm that last year targeted industrial software and equipment, most notably within Iran's nuclear program.

"Stuxnet was a very sophisticated, targeted attack," said Weiss, adding that his concern is now for what he calls the "son of Stuxnet." A massively complex set of code, Stuxnet has been touted as the first malware to attack industrial hardware, exploiting vulnerabilities in Windows. According to security specialist Symantec(SYMC _ ), the attack then modified code on control system technology from Siemens, leading to the destruction of centrifuges -- equipment that spins objects around a fixed axis -- used in Iran's nuclear program.

August 5, 2011 – DALLAS – Unprecedented heatwave: The Texas power grid operator has scrambled this week to meet soaring electricity demand in the face of a brutal heat-wave, and residents of the second most populous U.S. state are one power plant shutdown away from rolling blackouts. Power demand for Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc, or ERCOT, which runs the power grid for most of the state, hit three consecutive records this week as Texans cranked up air conditioners to escape one of the hottest summers on record. Another record was not likely on Thursday, ERCOT said. The grid operator on Thursday cut power to some big industrial users, and businesses and households face a repeat of the rolling blackouts they suffered in February, when a bitter cold snap interrupted power supplies. Though ERCOT has done a good job balancing supply and demand, “You always have to expect the unexpected can happen,” said Arshad Mansoor, senior vice president at the Electric Power Research Institute. “A unit can shut. The wind may not blow.” -Reuters

Rio grid crash: The dealership said there is still no estimate for restoration of power in all suburbs of Rio de Janeiro today affected by the blackout. Light went out in at least 12 areas of the city, especially in the south (Copacabana, Ipanema, Botafogo, Botanical Gardens and Gávea) and northern (Tijuca, Vila Isabel, and Long River). Although the service has been restored in some neighborhoods, there are traffic lights that remain detached in Tijuca, for example, causing congestion.

According to the Operations Center of City Hall, even with the return of energy is required reprogramming of the signs being made by the Traffic Engineering Company (TEC) in Rio. The subway stations Uruguaiana and Flamengo were without power. The problem, however, would have caused travel delays of trains, according to the Metro. The first light came on and Uruguaiana around 15:30, the station Flamengo. The health post Dom Helder Camara, in Botafogo, also lost power, but the situation was normalized. A spokesperson for the National System Operator (ONS) reported that at about 12pm, there was the shutdown of two transformers in the substation’s power Grajaú, in the north.

With this, the third transformer, still working, overwhelmed. “To avoid an uncontrolled blackout, the operator asked the Light to make a cut of 190 megawatts of load.”

According to the advice of the ONS, was the Light who chose the neighborhoods where the cut would be made. “Another measure taken by the ONS is the drive station of Santa Cruz and Barbosa Lima Sobrinho for the peak hours, between 18h and 22h, could be seen peacefully”, he said. Also according to the ONS, the two transformer substation Grajaú are still not operating, but all charges have been reconnected. The cause of the shutdown is still being investigated. -Noticias (Translated from Portuguese)Toronto suburd blackout: Close to 8,000 people were without power in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood for more than an hour on Friday afternoon. The outage began at about 2:30 p.m. when power shut off for 7,700 people, said Toronto Hydro spokesperson Alexandra Stadnyk. Power had been restored to all customers as of 4:50 p.m. Initially a portion of the affected area, containing all but 600 homes, was restored at about 3:45 p.m.

The initial outage affected Shaw Street to the west, Welland Avenue to the east, Lonsdale Road to the north and Bloor Street West to the south. The outage was caused by damaged equipment at a transformer station, according to Toronto Hydro. –Globe and Mail

CALIFORNIA 09/08/11 @ 4:50 PDT: ...San Diego County, Imperial County and parts of Orange County...officials were scrambling to find out the cause...substations all over the county were without power...Chula Vista in the south to Oceanside in the north & east as far as Alpine without power...also Tijuana and parts of Orange County...power was out in El Centro in Imperial County...power was out in Yuma, Ariz...power was out in Baja California as far south as Ensenada...Bill Carlson

SAN DIEGO -- A major power outage hit San Diego County, Imperial County and parts of Orange County Thursday, leaving more than one million residents without power throughout the region.

The outage knocked out power at the Fox 5 studios at about 3:40 p.m.

San Diego Gas and Electric officials said all 1.4 million of its customers were without power. In addition, southern Orange County and Baja California from Tijuana to Ensenada were also blacked out.

Related SDGE Outages Map

WEBSITE: San Diego International Airport

Officials said they were scrambling to find out the cause of the outage and restore power as soon as possible, but they did not know how long it would take to. They said residents should be prepared to be without power for quite some time.

At a late afternoon news conference, a spokesman said that the outage started with a problem on a transmission line in Arizona. That caused a sequence of events that shut down both generators at San Onofre Nuclear Power Station . The other two main power supplies to the region, a transmission line from the north and another from the east, were also down, the spokesman said.

SDG&E officials said they did not know exactly why the power went out, but there was no indication of terrorism.

Officials advised residents to stay off roads and make sure they have batteries and candles for lights and plenty of water. People should also turn off air conditioning units so that there is not a massive drain on electricity when power is eventually restored.

All flights out of Lindbergh Field have been canceled indefinitely, but inbound flights are being allowed to land, airport officials said. Air traffic controllers are operating on backup power, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

San Diego Trolley service has been suspended. Street lights throughout the region are also out.

San Diego State University and California State University San Marcos told Fox 5 News that they have canceled classes for the evening.

Fox5sandieog.com will have additional information as it becomes available.

The failure of a single piece of equipment near Yuma, Ariz., ignited a massive blackout that left nearly 6 million people without power, baffling utility officials and highlighting the vulnerability of the U.S. electrical grid.

By Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press

IRFAN KHAN / LOS ANGELES TIMES

With computer screens dark, Southwest Airlines workers check passengers in manually Friday at San Diego's airport. Flight cancellations stranded many people after Thursday's massive power failure hit the region.

LOS ANGELES — The failure of a single piece of equipment in Arizona ignited a massive blackout that left nearly 6 million people without power, baffling utility officials and highlighting the vulnerability of the U.S. electrical grid.

Authorities in Arizona said Friday that safeguards built into the system should have prevented the breakdown at a substation from cascading across Southern Arizona and into California and Northern Mexico.

They didn't, and the resulting instability led to the sudden shutdown of the San Onofre nuclear-power plant, about 50 miles north of San Diego, cutting off power to a large swath of Southern California.

"We lost all connection to the outside world," said James Avery, San Diego Gas & Electric's senior vice president of power supply. "This happened in a matter of seconds."

Energy experts and utility officials agreed the breakdown was troubling.

"We're struggling," said Daniel Froetscher, vice president of energy delivery for Arizona Public Service (APS), the largest electricity provider in Arizona. "We have to take a hard look at the system design and figure out exactly what happened. ... We don't know the underlying causes."

Among other concerns, some experts said the failure of safeguards suggest the potential for a saboteur to take down a regional power system.

Such incidents "remind us that on a day-to-day basis we rely on a very complicated electrical system," said Sarah Ladislaw, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies who specializes in energy security.

An APS worker was switching out a capacitor, which controls voltage levels, outside Yuma, Ariz., near the California border. Shortly after, a section of a major regional power line failed, eventually spreading trouble further down in California and later Mexico, officials said.

And the lights began to go out in a border region of about 6 million people.

The outage knocked out traffic signals, causing gridlock on roads in the San Diego area. More than 2 million gallons of sewage spilled into the ocean off San Diego, closing beaches in the nation's eighth-largest city.

But no injuries or major crimes related to the blackout were reported, San Diego County officials said, although vandals shattered the windows of one taco shop and there were scattered complaints of loud parties.

A local think tank, the National University System Institute for Policy Research, estimated the outage cost the San Diego-area economy more than $100 million.

On both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, many had to spend the night struggling to fall asleep in the high temperatures.

Power in most areas was restored by 3:30 a.m. Friday, less than 12 hours after the outage began and far more quickly than officials had initially expected. But they said the electrical grid was still "fragile" and urged residents to conserve electricity this weekend.

In San Diego, officials with the Metropolitan Transit System said trolleys and buses were up and running, although there were some delays.

Lindbergh Field, which had been all but shut down Thursday, experienced significant delays Friday. Several airlines canceled flights as problems from the outage lingered.

Federal and state investigators will try to determine what caused the blackout and how future problems can be prevented. If regulatory violations are found, the government could issue fines of up to $1 million a day for every violation, officials said.

Among the questions is why safeguards to keep power flowing appeared at first to work. There was a roughly 10-minute gap between the time the power line failed and customers lost electricity, said Daniel Froetscher, vice president of energy delivery for Phoenix-based APS. The line has been "solid, reliable" with no history of problems, Froetscher said.

September 25, 2011 – SANTIAGO – A massive power blackout paralyzed crucial copper mines in Chile on Saturday and darkened vast swaths of the country including the capital Santiago before energy was largely restored, officials said. The outage acutely exposed the fragility of the energy grid in the world’s top copper producer, which was devastated by a powerful earthquake in 2010. Critics have blamed Chilean President Sebastian Pinera for under-investment in infrastructure and his popularity ratings have dropped since taking office last year. Prior to the power failure, he was already struggling with massive protests by university students demanding deep educational reforms. Scrambling engineers were able to fully restore power generation and get distribution up to 90 percent of normal, the government said after the blackout, which lasted a couple of hours in most places. “We’ve regained power in various regions of the country,” said Chilean Energy Minister Rodrigo Alvarez. At an earlier briefing, Alvarez said the cause of the outage was unknown but that computers that help run the energy grid had also malfunctioned. The blackout primarily hit the centre of the country, where nearly 10 million of Chile’s 16 million people live. –Reuters

Illinois outage: Several area communities lost power Saturday evening from Ottawa to Princeton and as far west as Tiskilwa, including DePue, Malden, LaMoille and Ladd. Ladd resident Beth Flaherty said she was without power from 4:40 p.m. until shortly after 7 p.m. Residents who called Ameren got a message that stated there was a problem with a generator in Hennepin. Ladd Lanes wasn’t affected too much by losing power for 1 1/2 hours, according to manager Sam Lawrence. The business closed until power returned at 7 p.m. and then reopened. The recorded message at Ameren gave an estimated time of 1 a.m. for power to be restored, Lawrence said, which would have cost the business its Saturday night crowd. Nearly 4,000 Ameren customers were without power in Ottawa at 7:30 p.m., according to the company’s website, but by 7:40 p.m. that area was back on. More than 500 people in each town still were without power in Tiskilwa, Princeton and DePue. Ten minutes later DePue was back online, leaving only Tiskilwa and Princeton residents in the dark, along with one location in Ottawa and one in La Salle. –News Tribune

BOISE, ID – Over 1,000 people in Boise were without power Saturday afternoon. Around 4 p.m., an outage that ranged from Boise to Garden City affected 1,369 customers at its peak. Ada County Dispatch said that a blown transformer at the corner of Chinden and Maple Grove was the cause of the outage. The transformer blowing did spark a small grass fire, but crews on scene were quickly able to bring it under control. Idaho Power said they had crews on scene soon after the problem was identified to begin fixing the problem. -KTVB

Arizona Outage: Umpires pulled the Giants off the field while they discussed the situation with D-backs officials. The game resumed after a 28-minute delay. After the game, the D-backs issued a statement: “According to APS, Arizona Public Service, a microburst hit the Phoenix area and took out 1 of 2 APS substations that feeds Chase Field. The transfer switch did transfer to the backup feeder resulting in minimal power outage to the stadium. However, the stadium is equipped with high-pressure sodium lights which shut down when experiencing a voltage drop causing the outage. After shutting down, they require a cool off period then a re-strike, which takes 20 minutes.” -MLB

Ohio: An officer responded to a loud explosion in the 1000 block of East Sixth Street at 2:40 a.m. Saturday and found it to be a blown transformer that caused a power outage in the area. -Salem News

Karachi loses power: The Karachi Electric Supply Company on Saturday increased the duration of unannounced power outages for domestic consumers to about 12 hours and for the industry to eight hours. Residents of North Karachi, parts of North Nazimabad, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Federal B Area and PECHS block II complained that they suffered at least five spells of power outages of two-hour duration each. Residents of Orangi, Keamari, Malir, Shah Faisal Colony and Korangi suffered even more hours of power outages. A KESC spokesman, however, claimed that residential and commercial consumers would suffer a maximum of nine hours of loadshedding while the duration for industrial loadshedding would be eight hours. He said as the gas supply was 160MMCFD (million cubic feet daily), the KESC`s combined cycle power plant was still closed and the remaining gas turbines were on below optimal output due to a low gas supply. An SSGC spokesperson, however, claimed that the KESC needed a minimum of 130MMCFD to operate turbines, and maintained that the power utility was making unnecessary noises to deflect the focus from its own mishandling of the situation. -Dawn

Notification issued on 10/02/11 at 2:00 PM. Con Edison is responding to a power outage in Bronx zip code 10469. To report a loss of electric service, contact Con Edison at 1-800-75-CONED(26633) or online at

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Police in Hamas-ruled Gaza have detained dozens of taxi drivers for allegedly spreading "rumors" about the territory's worst power crisis in years, officials said Monday,

The detentions, which began over the weekend, signaled that the Islamic militant Hamas is increasingly concerned about the political fallout from crippling shortages of fuel and electricity.

Authorities did not explain what got the drivers in trouble, beyond saying the "rumors" had to do with the energy crisis.

However, residents say there's growing talk among Gazans that Hamas is keeping separate supplies of fuel for its government and loyalists, a claim Hamas denies.

At the root of the two-month-old crisis is a standoff between Hamas and neighboring Egypt over the delivery and payment for fuel.

Fuel smuggled from Egypt through tunnels under the border used to be the main source of energy for Gaza, including the territory's only power station that provides 60 percent of the electricity.

Hamas now wants Egypt to deliver fuel to Gaza through a passage above ground, trying to establish a precedent Hamas hopes could evolve into a full-fledged trade route with Egypt.

Egypt is fearful such a link would be seen as absolving Israel, Gaza's longtime occupier, of its responsibility for territory. Despite a 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, Israel continues to control access by air, land and sea. Egypt wants to route any future fuel shipments through Israel and insists at selling it at international prices. Hamas is searching for fuel subsidies from Arab countries.

A solution to the standoff is not in sight. As a result of the shortages, Gaza's power station has been offline most of the time since Feb. 10, leading to rolling 18-hour-a-day blackouts.

The Health Ministry said fuel supplies for hospital generators will only last until Thursday. Working hours in outpatient clinics have been reduced, 60 percent of ambulances are grounded and non-emergency surgeries have been rescheduled, the ministry said.

Patients in intensive care at Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest health facility, have less reason for worry. About a month ago, solar panels donated by an Italian group were installed on the roof, providing electricity for machines attached to five of the 15 beds in the ICU, hospital officials said.

President Obama's top cybersecurity official on Wednesday said utilities must pinpoint security gaps in their electricity delivery systems on a regular basis.

The Energy Department, in cooperation with the White House, Homeland Security Department and power companies, this month is expected to test a voluntary reporting model that assesses an individual utility's security posture to identify where safeguards are needed most. As of March 30, the Office of Management and Budget was finalizing information collection procedures for the trial.

As the industry moves toward smart meters with Internet-connected sensors that help utilities and customers economize, it is becoming a hacker target. Thieves can game the system to display less power than the actual amount consumed, while adversaries theoretically could darken cities by breaking into industrial control systems.

After piloting the Electric Sector Cybersecurity Risk Management Maturity assessment model this spring, the government plans to make a template available to the electric sector this summer.

McAfee officials told reporters that the most effective change agent in the power industry has been positive incentives that reward security enhancements, such as tax credits and liability reforms. Also, companies are working with regulators to shift from a blacklisting protection approach that focuses on blocking worms after antivirus programs detect a danger, to a whitelisting approach that allows only a preselected set of downloads, said Thomas Gann, McAfee vice president for government relations.

Phyllis Schneck, chief technology officer for McAfee global public sector, said her firm is building whitelisting features into systems, even computer components.

In his conference remarks, Schmidt also addressed emerging complications for the government's cybersecurity brain trust -- a team that, he said, involves officials from nearly every department. One challenge has been figuring out the motives behind various cyber incidents. "What may be an espionage issue sort of gets commingled with criminal activity," he said. "One of the things that we've had to do is sit there and parse these things out."

Surfing the Web with a virus lurking inside one's computer is becoming increasingly commonplace. The practice of using personal smartphones for office work, known as Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, creates the potential for even more malware, Schmidt said. "One in 10 Americans has some kind of malicious software on their own devices," he said.

By the CNN Wire Staffupdated 9:37 AM EDT, Tue July 3, 2012(CNN) -- Out of power since Friday, Bethesda, Maryland, resident Jacqueline Hirsch went to the library to seek relief from the heat, only to find hundreds of others had the same idea."If you need to charge your phone or you need Internet or anything, you show up here and it's literally a madhouse," Hirsch told CNN affiliate WJLA-TV on Monday.People were sitting on the floor of the library, using every available outlet to charge their laptops and cell phones.

Some of the millions without power after deadly heat-driven storms struck the area Friday flocked to malls, libraries, pools and most any other public place with electricity to seek relief from a massive heat wave blanketing much of the nation."He's supposed to be in camp today, and he's not because his camp got canceled," said Pawan Dhingra, who brought his preschooler son to the library. "So we have no power, it's hot, we wanted air conditioning, charge my cell phone and ... hang out with my kid in a place that's comfortable."About 1.8 million people scattered through 11 states, from Indiana to Delaware and Washington, had no electricity Monday night.

For Tuesday, extreme heat warnings were issued for parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan, with the National Weather Service saying that those areas would be scorched with temperatures near or above triple digits.

Heat advisory warnings were also in place for a handful of states, including parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.

Cities and towns in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast have already endured temperatures in the high 90s and above 100 degrees since, in some cases, the middle of last week. It's all part of a system tied to the breaking or tying of more than 2,238 hot weather records nationwide between June 25 and Sunday, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

After the storms swept the region, as many as 4 million customers were left in the dark Friday night and early Saturday.The total included about 410,000 in West Virginia, 400,000 in Ohio and 340,000 in Virginia. Power and government authorities said some may not get electricity back until the end of this week.

Residents of Boone County, West Virginia, said Monday their region was among the hardest-hit, telling CNN affiliate WSAZ-TV they're not getting help.

"We have a pool and we have a generator, but a lot of these people have nothing," said Stacy Peters of the Prenter community. "It makes you want to sit down and cry."

She said, "I know they have a job to do and (power lines) are down everywhere, but you know what? Send somebody down here to check on us. Or set a cooling center up here for us or see if we need water."

The nearby community of Wharton set up a cooling center but said water and ice are in short supply.

"Ever since Saturday, we've had people -- 40, 50, 60 people -- waiting to get some relief and it's just not coming," said Carlos Jarvis of Wharton. "... People are in dire straits, really."

In Rockville, Maryland, members of the Brandon family attempted to escape the heat by sitting on their porch.

"Three windows I can open, (but) it doesn't help at all," Nick Brandon told WJLA on Monday.

"Today feels hotter than yesterday," said his father, Ivan Brandon. "We've figured out how to do it. We sit out here, we sit out back on the deck."

In Germantown, Maryland, crowds packed one of the few public pools with electricity.

"It's just great to get out of the heat. It's super hot without air conditioning in the house, so it's great to cool off in the water," Brian O'Keefe told WJLA.

And a mall in Wheaton, Maryland, looked like it was Christmas season instead of early July.

Matt Lloyd of Silver Spring spent several hours there with his children, WJLA said. "It's nice that there's still power here," he said.

At least 16 people were killed from Ohio to New Jersey in the derecho, a massive storm packing straight-line wind damage, while another three in North Carolina died in a second round of storms Sunday.

"It was the scariest thing I've ever been through," CNN iReporter Mark Cohen said from Mays Landing, New Jersey, where the storms damaged his property and knocked out power. "Just to give you an idea, it was somewhere between a movie and a disaster ride at a park."

Ken Mallette, executive director of the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, compared the damage to that seen after Hurricane Irene last year.

"We got a hurricane punch without a hurricane warning," he told CNN on Tuesday.

His agency is most concerned with 36 critical care facilities, such as nursing homes, that were operating on generator power, he said.

While the Pepco power company drew criticism from many in the wake of the outages, Mallette said the utilities' response "will be dealt with in an after-action issue."

For now, he said, "we're not going to be happy until we have every Marylander back online. ... We have zero tolerance. We want that power back on yesterday."

Effects of the storms lingered in many locations. In the Washington suburb of Fairfax County, Virginia, the 911 system -- which went down completely Friday -- was still not fully functional as of Monday afternoon, according to WJLA.

A Verizon facility in Arlington, Virginia, lost power as a result of the storm Friday, meaning 911 calls in Arlington, Manassas and Fairfax and Prince William counties did not go through, the station said.

In Prince William County, spokesman Jason Grant told WJLA that 911 calls began working again on Monday.

Sharon Bulova, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chairman, said a regional task force will be appointed to determine what went wrong.

July Fourth celebrations were canceled in several Maryland locales, including Kensington, Germantown, Rockville and Gaithersburg, officials said. Bone-dry and hot conditions forced fireworks cancellations in other areas.

Traffic lights remain out in many hard-hit locales, including around the nation's capital, yet another reason for headaches.

"A lot of detours, a lot of lights that are out (and) some that are spotty," said Larry Simmons, a frustrated commuter in southern Maryland. "A lot of congestion, a lot of discourteous drivers."

For one driver in Wisconsin, the extreme heat caused a dangerous situation that was captured on video.

The heat buckled a stretch of highway in Chippewa County, creating a ramp on the road Sunday. Several cars were able to slow down before hitting the buckled portion of roadway, but then a sport utility vehicle hit the roadway and went airborne for some 15 feet before landing roughly back on the highway, CNN affiliate WQOW-TV reported.

The driver and passenger were taken to a hospital complaining of neck and back injuries and the highway was repaired, the station said.

"I was kind of shocked; you don't normally see that stuff in real life," said Theresa Reich, who videotaped the SUV on her phone.

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy issued a new energy policy that will drive energy consumption reduction at all Navy installations, transform the shore energy culture and seek new or existing technical solutions for reducing energy, officials announced July 10.

The Shore Energy Management Instruction signifies a complete revision from the previous version published in 1994.

The instruction codifies Navy's policy and strategy to ensure energy security as a strategic imperative, meet federal mandates and executive orders, and achieve Department of the Navy (DoN) shore energy goals.Since naval forces require constant support from shore installations, Navy is mitigating its vulnerabilities related to the electrical grid - such as outages from natural disasters and man-made events - by lowering consumption, integrating renewable energy sources and increasing control of energy supply and distribution. Energy reliability, resiliency and redundancy are essential components of the Navy's Critical Infrastructure Protection program.

"Energy security is critical because warfighters need assured access to reliable supplies of energy to meet operational needs afloat or ashore," said Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics, Vice Adm. Phil Cullom. "This instruction is just one example of how we are driving a spartan energy ethos in our shore operations. We are committed to cost-effectively achieving our energy goals by pursuing energy efficiency, transforming our energy culture, and integrating renewable energy technologies, where viable."

The revised instruction includes specific responsibilities and actions that commands and personnel ashore must take in implementing the Navy Shore Energy program. For example, each Navy installation will have a tailored energy consumption reduction goal based on its unique energy situation. By increasing energy efficiency, Navy can reduce operating costs, multiply the impact of current and future alternative energy sources and achieve DoN renewable energy targets.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus laid out five aggressive energy goals in October 2009 to improve energy security and efficiency afloat and ashore and increase our energy security.

EXCESSIVE DEMAND CRASHES ELECTRIC GRID IN NORTHERN INDIA- 370 MILLION LEFT WITHOUT POWER IN SWELTERING HEAT

Posted on July 30, 2012by The Extinction Protocol

July 30, 2012 – INDIA - A massive power cut has caused disruption across northern India, including in the capital, Delhi. It hit a swathe of the country affecting more than 300 million people in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan states. Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said most of the supply had been restored and the rest would be reinstated soon. It is unclear why the supply collapsed but reports say some states may have been using more power than authorized. Mr. Shinde said he had appointed a committee to inquire into the causes of the blackout, one of the worst to hit the country in more than a decade. The committee will submit its report within 15 days, he said. The power cut happened at 02:30 local time on Monday (2100 GMT Sunday) after India’s Northern Grid network collapsed. Mr. Shinde told the BBC that he had been informed about the problem at 05:30. “Within two hours we tried to restore the railways, airport and Delhi Metro services and power supply to essential services, including the railways and hospitals, was restored by 08:00.” The minister said the exact reason for the collapse had not yet been pinpointed but, in the summer, “states try to take more power from the grid” and at the time of the collapse, the grid frequency was “above normal.” That is one of the reasons why the grid failed,” he said. By early afternoon, 80% of the supply had been restored, Mr. Shinde said. –BBC

Grid crash in summer heat: Northern India’s power grid crashed Monday, halting hundreds of trains, forcing hospitals and airports to use backup generators and leaving 370 million people — more than the population of the United States and Canada combined — sweltering in the summer heat. The blackout, the worst to hit India in a decade, highlighted the nation’s inability to feed a growing hunger for energy as it strives to become a regional economic power. Some small businesses were forced to shut for the day. Buildings were without water because the pumps weren’t working. Muslim families were forced to eat their pre-dawn meals by candlelight before beginning their daytime Ramadan fast. “It was really difficult,” said farmer Mohammed Zaman. The northern grid crashed about 2:30 a.m. because it could no longer keep up with the huge demand for power in the hot summer, officials in the state of Uttar Pradesh said. However, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said he was not sure exactly what caused the collapse and had formed a committee to investigate it. The grid feeds the nation’s breadbasket in Punjab, the war-wracked region of Kashmir, the burgeoning capital of New Delhi, the Dalai Lama’s Himalayan headquarters in Dharmsala and the world’s most populous state, the poverty stricken Uttar Pradesh. –Business Week

A power outage in Grand Cayman, which started at 6:30 this morning and lasted until late afternoon, crippled the entire island Wednesday. Businesses across Grand Cayman were forced to draw operations to a halt due to the loss of electricity, with many telling their employees to stay home. Hospitals used backup generators to continue offering services, while police had to be dispatched to direct motorists on the street due to the blackout. Caribbean Utilities Company, the only electricity provider on the island, said the outage was caused by a fault in one of its substations which affected the entire system. SOURCE

Prolonged and widespread power outage in most of Pakistan’s cities during scorching summer heat has triggered violent protests in most areas of the country. Coupled with hot and humid summer weather, the prolonged blackout has forced outraged citizens to take to the streets to protest the tough living conditions. The protests turned violent as some of the angry protesters reportedly attacked offices of the power supply department in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, damaging official and private properties.Offices of Pepco, the Pakistan Electric Power Company, were also attacked in Islamabad, Abbottabad, Charsadda, Okara, Multan, Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot, and Sheikhupura and many of them were reportedly set ablaze. No loss of life was reported, but the roads were blocked till late night. Reports indicate that in some areas people face 12 to 14 hours of rolling blackouts, while the rural residents suffer up to 18 hours of power outage.On Friday, a powerful storm hit some of the country’s power plants, including one of Chashma Nuclear Power Plants and three other plants in Muzaffargarh, causing them to go fully or partly offline.

In the meantime, Information Minister Zamar Kaira deflected the blame for the angry protests, saying they have been caused by “political maneuvering of the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League (N))” rather than the prolonged outages.

Pakistan’s lack of around 5,000 megawatts of electrical power has forced the government to implement a rolling blackout policy in a bid to prevent a total blackout. SOURCE

CON EDISON SHUTS OFF POWER TO PART OF LOWER MANHATTAN DUE TO SANDYMon Oct 29, 2012 7:56pm EDT (Reuters) - New York power company Consolidated Edison Inc said on Monday that it had shut off power to part of Lower Manhattan to protect company equipment and customers and to allow for quicker restoration after Hurricane Sandy passes.

In May 2011, uncollected rubbish piled up in Naples, Italy. Sweden hopes Italy might be willing to export the problem.AFP/AFP/Getty Imagesi

In May 2011, uncollected rubbish piled up in Naples, Italy. Sweden hopes Italy might be willing to export the problem.AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Move over Abba, Sweden has found new fame. The small Nordic country is breaking records — in waste. Sweden's program of generating energy from garbage is wildly successful, but recently its success has also generated a surprising issue: There is simply not enough trash.

Only 4 percent of Swedish garbage ends up in a landfill, according to Swedish Waste Management. Due to its efficiency in converting waste to renewable energy, Sweden has recently begun importing around 800,000 tons of trash annually from other countries.

Norway is now paying Sweden to take its garbage. Swedish sights are also set on Bulgaria, Romania and Italy as future trash exporters, as Catarina Ostlund, a senior advisor for the country's environmental protection agency, told PRI. Those countries rely heavily on landfills – a highly inefficient and environmentally degrading system.

Sweden is leading the way in waste management, but it is one of few. We live in a world where nearly 70 percent of deep sea Arctic creatures are in contact with human trash like plastic bags and beer bottles. In the United States, where the EPA says 250 million tons of trash was generated in 2010 alone, only about 34 percent was recycled.

Sweden creates energy for around 250,000 homes and powers one-fifth of the district heating system, Swedish Waste Managements says. Its incineration plants offer a look into the future where countries could potentially make money off of their trash — and not just dump it in the ocean or bury it in mass landfills.

"I would say maybe in the future, this waste will be valued even more," Ostlund said. "So maybe you could sell your waste, because there will be a shortage of resources within the world."

HUGE LITGHNING STRIKE LEAVES 120,000 HOMES WITHOUT POWER IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AS FORECASTERS WARN OF MORE STORMS

Tuesday, August 20, 2013 7:47

Bolt took out power from homes in Tulare, Kern and San Bernardino counties and the cities of Redlands, Ridgecrest, Arrowhead and Menifee

Firefighters battled for an hour to bring blaze caused by storm under control

Energy crews diverted from other jobs to try to quickly restore power

By Helen Collis * Daily MailA bolt of lightning knocked out power to around 120,00 homes in southern California during a storm on Monday.The fork of lightning struck a major bank of transformers at the Rector Station, just outside Visalia on Road 148 and Caldwell, causing it to burst into flames.Firefighters battled for an hour to control the blaze but thousands of homes were without power last night and for many, it will not be restored until this evening, according to ABC30.

Electrifying: Lightning storms in California cut power to 120,000 customers around the Tulare County area, and lit up the sky further south in Barstow, picturedSouthern California Edison (SCE) said in a statement damage to its facilities from the storms was ‘significant’ and it was working to quickly restore power to homes in the area.The company also warned that more scattered thunderstorms were expected to continue for a few days. More…